Untold
by CatGirlFireflare
Summary: An AU in which Gipsy Danger comes just a little bit later to the battle in Hong Kong. Things go quite differently, for EVERYONE. (Will be mostly from the Kaijus' point of view, Otachi and Leatherback being main characters. Contains blood, violence, some death, but no cursing or inappropriateness.)
1. Chapter 1

**Greetings! I've pre-written several of these chapters, some will be short, some long, constructive criticism is appreciated, suggestions for the plot are fun but probably won't be used because I already have it planned out. Thank you!**

 **...**

 **Just over four years ago on January 9, 2014, our beloved ferret sister, Panda, died. All the good and happy parts of this story are dedicated to her.**

 **I would also dedicate to her all the characters in this story who live instead of die, but I do not own "Pacific Rim" or any of the characters in it.**

The two Kaiju watched with a mix of eagerness and apprehension as glowing waves of energy crashed against their enemy. Against the "Yaygrr," known to "hyoomin"s as "Struykrryureekuh."

Strange, these 'words,' made of sounds and symbols. Very strange.

 _Smaller-thinner-than-others angry grey-with-yellow fast glowing-blue-red-front-stripes glowing-yellow-shoulder-bits hard-hitting wing-like-blades-on-back vicious chest-opens-firing-six-explosives multi-piece-gold-face killed-ten-of-Us killed-most-recent-of-Us (at hot-dry-place-with-vermins'-odd-white-plating-construct) newest of the Vermins'-Strange-Smelly-Big-Hard-Shiny-Death-Things._

These were the thoughts, images, memories, and impressions that formed their identification of this particular enemy. These made sense.

But now there was also new knowledge of this Death-Thing, and of much more! Strange noise-words and alien terms, from one of the vermin of this World. (Or, Not-Vermin?)

 _"Struhykrryureekuh" new fancy improved "marcfaiv"_ _"Yaygrr",_ _made of "metl," "Pailit"ed-by-"Hansin"s: stern-older-father/"Hrrk," arrogant-younger-son/"Chuhk," both grouchy "hyoomin"s, all-from-region-of-hot-dry-place(they-call-"Sidnee Ostreylyuh") where-they-killed- Most-Recently-Sent-Female-Kaiju(they-call-"Mootuhvor,") ,moved-recently-to-"Yaygrr"-place/"Shatrdohm" in-"Hongcong," only-four-"Yaygrrs"-survive, "Drift," important-for-v/Vermins'-plan-To-Destroy-Exit/'Breech' (?! ?! DESTROY EXIT?! DEFEAT THEM?! WHAAAT?! ?!)_

So very strange.

To the relief and delight of both Kaiju, the male's energy waves worked as THEY had intended.

The "Yaygrr" managed one more step, stiffening and shuddering as though in pain. Both arms lifted for a moment as if trying to ward off attack, electricity crackling through them...

But after a moment the metal titan slumped in place, arms dropping heavily and head bowing.

{ _Amazement disbelief excitement You did it!_ } Several fellow Kaiju called across the dimensions, congratulating the duo.

Thrilled at their victory, the female made a rapid snaking-swimming motion from head to tail, sending water splashing everywhere. She roared her delight, relief, and profound gratitude to her companion, who was equally glad and triumphant.

They'd done their job: defeat the three functioning Death-Things.

Now the they were much safer; THEY were pleased, and it would take a little while for the vermins' tiny-flying-death-things to reach and kill them. THEY knew the two Kaiju knew what to do next: destroy the vermins' bizarre-widespread-smelly-hard-places, "Sittee"s, until the two died.

And THEY expected Them to do it.

The male Kaiju bared his teeth and gave a quiet huff/snort through his nostrils, while the female snaked her head side to side with a soft but rattling hiss. The male quietly sent her a hint of an idea, and she gave a fanged grin.

He could stay here... to guard the immobilized Death-Thing and attack if the metal titan woke up, _of course~_. She, being thinner and more agile, could enter the vermins' city… to destroy it and test out the new features THEY had so _graciously_ endowed her with, _of course~_.

{ _YESSSSSS,_ } the winged Kaiju bobbed her head in wickedly delighted agreement, 'chittering' in amusement by vibrating her jaws so the front teeth rubbed quickly against one another. Then she turned and swam eagerly for shore.

Both kept hidden their shared feeling of smugness as THEY lost interest and turned THEIR attention elsewhere.

The rest of the Kaiju race kept Their excitement and eager curiosity carefully concealed. The two were doing as was ordered and expected of Them, _of course~_...

 **I hope that was alright. This is probably the shortest chapter, almost like a prologue. Chapters get much longer later! By the way, you'll notice I've used capital letters when the Kaiju refer to their species: 'We,' 'Us,' 'Our.' And when communicating, Kaiju pronouns** **for one another** **have a capital letter, 'He,' 'Him,' 'His,' 'She,' 'Her'. That's because they're all so closely connected, so it's like capitalizing the 'I' when referring to yourself.**

 **Also, in thoughts Kaiju refer to the Precursors, the species that created and sent them, as just 'THEM' in all capitols. This will be explained later, but you can guess, and was _inspired by Raberbagirl_ , an AMAZING author on FanFiction who has written several brilliant "How To Train Your Dragon" FanFics! ALSO, ****the Kaiju thought-patterns** **(shown in {these symbol things}), were subconsciously inspired by how Raberbagirl's dragons speak. This was an accident, not intentional, I have told her about it and I've done my best to alter it. Thank you.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Greetings! Here's the second chapter, longer than the first, hooray! We're getting closer to the interesting part, I promise.**

The Kaiju surged through the harbor like a tsunami. She brushed past boats bobbing in the waves like bathtub toys, crashing through the surface and casting off sheets of water in heavy clouds.

That looked interesting, she noticed, that thick bright mist of water droplets... So she did it some more.

Ahh, that was _quite_ lovely! A curtain of glittering fog glowing greenish and blue in the lights from the structures ahead and in the sweeping lights from the vermins' buzzing-metal-flying-things.

A gentle thought-nudge came from her comrade, agreeing that yes it looked very, very beautiful but that she must stay focused.

{ _I know I know just admiring it for a moment_ } she assured him, { _so bright shining neat different so very very different from the awful-sad-rotting-old-sick-Dying/Dead-World and it gives Us all something nice to see and think about do not worry I've not forgotten see I'm already going delight eagerness determination I will succeed(I hope I hope I hope!)_ }

The Kaiju climbed heavily from the water, causing a small fire in a tiny vermin-structure when she stepped through it with a wing-claw. She clambered onto a larger structure, grasping the corners for support and crushing part of it as she stepped off.

She punched through the corners and edges of other structures in her path, striding powerfully through the v/Vermin "sittee," focusing all of her senses on the hunt. Meanwhile she sent back interesting information to the rest of her kind, keeping them updated and providing some entertainment.

A few found amusement in watching the masses of v/Vermin scurry for cover, far in the distance.

Others recalled memories from one of their brothers who'd gone there, destroyed much, and been killed; the place had been rebuilt impressively. A couple marveled at the inorganic materials that formed the structures, how shiny and smooth and reflective much of it was.

The winged Kaiju crashed through one such structure, creating an explosion of glinting, glittering little shards. Aahhhh, even lovelier!

One Kaiju compared it to a shimmering swarm of the multicolored insects they'd encountered in one of the Old-Dead-Worlds. Several likened it to the little explosions of crystal dust from another Old-Dead-World's mountains whenever They had to scratch them apart.

The rest agreed with this, before all noticed a series of thin, curving shapes jutting out above some of the v/Vermin dwellings.

Oh. The winged Kaiju shuddered and slowed for a moment; the shapes were the ribs of the brother who'd been killed here. The vermin had built more structures around and even inside the skeletal remains.

Deep sadness flowed through them all for the reminder of a lost life, one of so very, very many.

At least, They consoled one another, He had spent His last moments in the Newest-Living-World, not back in the the Dying-World where THEY ruled and grew and destroyed.

Disgust and anger spiked from many Kaiju, seeing that the vermin were using the remains of one of Them to make more vermin-structures and dwellings. Disturbing, to think of vermin being inside a fellow Kaiju's corpse.

There was also surprise and confusion and amazement: { _Look look disbelief some pieces of Him are still there these pieces still exist and are recognizable as having been part of Him and are part of Him even though He is dead astonishment the pieces of Him are not all gone!_}

So very strange.

She gave a solemn little roar at the stripped bones before continuing onward- crushing a structure here and there, busting through the sides of some others, once forcing her way through the middle of one. That was a little difficult, and painful, but fun.

She had to go closer to the ribs of her dead brethren in order to follow the Not-Vermin. She groaned softly, not wanting to go near the remains but knowing that she must, if she were to reach her target. So she continued onward.

It was another strange thing to not want to do something or have to do it, but still decide to do it willingly.

Instead of being forced to.

So strange, so very strange, the things that could exist here.

She paused briefly at a distant sensation of pain, emanating from something equivalent to her right wing's claws. It was not hers but phantom pain, hardly unusual. But-...

Here she cocked her head in interest and surprise. The discomfort was not from any other Kaiju.

Aha, her quarry! But if it/he were injured, that meant it could be in danger, and if there was danger it could die and she would not be able to get to it!

She growled and smashed through a few more structures, leaning to one side and deliberately bonking her head against a tall thin one. It shattered delightfully, and she turned with a grin to watch the scurrying v/Vermins' reactions.

That was amusing. Ooh, more things from the tiny little Not-Vermin: shock, fear, and disbelief, quickly building into desperation and terror. It/he had seen that little head bonk.

Excellent! She was nearly there.

Leatherback's POV.

Hmmm. The massive Kaiju paced slowly around the frozen Death-Thing. He narrowed multiple eyes, contemptuous but cautious, in case his special new ability wore off or in case the Death-Thing was faking.

 ** _{IMPOSSIBLE WE DESIGN PERFECTLY! DESTROY IT ANYWAY (JUST IN CASE) THEN GO DESTROY VERMINS' DWELLINGS.}_**

The massive Kaiju hunched his shoulders at the order, wondering if he should attempt to resist. He might almost be able to, he thought… or maybe not. It wasn't worth it; he'd prefer not to risk THEIR wrath, especially just to spare another hated Death-Thing.

Also he found it amusing THEY bragged of THEIR creations always working, yet added instructions for 'just in case.' He carefully kept that thought very quiet and hidden.

Some of THEM were disagreeing with the rest; THEY could take as long as THEY wanted in destroying the vermin of this New-Living-World now. And figuring out more about these bothersome "yay-grr" things could be mildly entertaining and even lead to new possibilities for creating things. THEY agreed at last, some bored at the lack of destruction and simply losing interest.

 ** _{CONTINUE.}_**

{ _Thank YOU,_ } he sent meekly. He was pleasantly surprised to have the chance to do whatever he wanted, but aware that he was also subconsciously being submissive in response to THEIR influence.

He hated that.

The Kaiju turned his attention back to the helpless enemy before him. He tried to ignore THEIR constant presence in his mind, and instead focused on the excitement of investigating some interesting new thing- and without getting injured! This was fascinating!

He'd already examined the intricate pieces forming the joints and shell-like armor. The many little vermin must have been very clever to make such a creation out of lifeless, inorganic 'metal.' After a wary examination from a safe distance, he circled around to observe a little closer.

His right forelimb bumped against one of the arms, accidentally nudging it forward. Quickly he glanced down at the metal limb, checking for a reaction. What if there was some lingering energy or something on him and it unparalyzed the Death-Thing?

The arm remained completely limp, swinging loosely to a halt after a moment.

Ha! Unbelievable; the vermins' creation really was completely helpless! He could destroy the Death-Thing if he wanted to, and the Death-Thing couldn't do anything about it. So weird, usually these were all _hardness-strength-power-danger-death_.

Now? Just... _strange_ , so floppy and quiet.

He stopped in front of the paralyzed Death-Thing, took a firm stance, and gave a small roar directly at his enemy's face, still half-expecting a response.

No movement. The head was bowed as if in submission or as if asleep ( _extremely_ bizarre concepts to associate with Death-Things). But of course this Death-Thing was neither.

The Kaiju wrinkled his blunt snout and tossed his head a little, then bumped one fist lightly against the metal head. Hellooo.

...Huh. Something _did_ happen.

 **Yay, second chapter! Hope you liked it. Next chapter has Newt's point of view!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Greetings! If anyone reviews, I will reply to them in whatever chapter I post after said-review. Just to let'cha know. Thanks.**

 **This third chapter- along with everything happy and nice in this story- is dedicated to a second beloved ferret-Sister** **of ours** **, who died two years ago today, on January 29, 2016.**

Newt's POV.

Newt fidgeted nervously as the slow, booming footsteps drew closer. Something was nagging at the back of his mind, some terrifying possibility that he just couldn't quite put his finger on yet.

The walls of the public shelter shuddered slightly, and the hanging lights trembled, adding life to the milling crowd's jumbled shadows. Newton stood somewhere in the middle of the bunker, surrounded by fellow humans and reinforced anti-Kaiju structures.

It didn't make him feel much safer, what with the muffled crashes and booms overhead.

Suddenly there was a much louder, sharper thud directly above them, and the lights dimmed for a moment. Everyone flinched, ducking and hunching down almost as one.

Newton stared up at the brick ceiling, incredulous and disbelieving, "He stopped right above us." What were the odds? It couldn't have picked that exact spot, not directly over the shelter, not right there out of all the other places it could go, why would it come here?!

"Oh my word," he stated breathlessly, glancing around at the rest of the crowd trapped in the sealed bunker and beginning to panic, "Oh my word, this isn't a refuge, th- this is a buffet line!"

The lamps bounced and swung overhead as the ceiling shuddered violently, their dulled light doing nothing to help the situation. Dust and dirt and debris rained down in clumps, showering the huddled refugees in several spots.

The quasi-earthquake continued, causing everyone but Newt to duck again, many crouching almost to the floor and covering their heads. The lights flickered brighter as the crowd slowly rose again and Newt began inching backwards in stunned horror.

Twin clouds of dust filtered down like thin waterfalls behind him as his terror only grew, "He knows I'm here. H-he knows I'm here!"

"Shh," a girl with a red outfit in front of him cried, "He knows we're all here!"

"No, you don't understand, he's trying to get me! He knows I'm here!" Newton yelped, panicking.

This was the end! That Mr. Chau was right, the Kaiju was looking for him, it had followed, it had found him, he was trapped! The Kaiju was going to dig right through the ceiling and get him! He was going to die!

He spun around in frantic search of some escape route as the girl started shouting in another language. It was probably Cantonese, some calm part of his brain noted distractedly as the girl pointed at him so rapidly her finger jabbed him in the shoulder several times. He grabbed her shoulders for a second, trying to ask what she was saying.

Everyone was backing away as if he had the plague. Stop it! What was going on? Why were they doing that?

"What was she saying? I gotta get out of here!" he begged, scrambling to find a way out as people shoved him away, "I gotta get out of here!" One person hurled him to the floor and he landed hard on his right shoulder in the middle of an absurdly wide open space.

"Oh come on," he complained, covering his head to protect it, hurting all over again and now missing his glasses.

How was there so much room? Shouldn't these shelters be super tightly packed with people? He hoped none of them had stepped on his glasses. He felt around the damp floor, squinting and trying to ignore the humiliation. It was so unfair.

"Those were expensive glasses," Newt muttered, frustrated, before finally noticing a small dark shape on the floor ahead. There they were!

He snatched them quickly, figuring they were probably cracked by now, "This is the worst."

He held the glasses in front of his face to check for damage, just before another massive shudder rocked the bunker. The lights bounced and swung some more, adding to the disorientation.

A crack slowly, achingly, wormed its way across the ceiling, ending almost right above the young scientist. Dust trickled down from it ominously.

Newt stayed frozen in place as the lights brightened again, slowly lowering trembling arms to his sides. It was quiet for a long, tense moment, but there was a disturbing sense of... not anticipation exactly… Warning?

 _ **KABOOM!**_ An enormous chunk of ceiling crashed to the floor inches in front of him!

The crowd gave a collective scream at the collapse and fled to the farthest edges of the shelter. Clouds of dust poured forth, along with a rush of cool, rainy fresh air.

And two gigantic Kaiju claws.

The massive talons wiggled up and down in place, scraping away edges of the now gaping hole as Newt cowered away, shielding his face with both arms.

With a trembling hand he slid his glasses into place, staring upwards in stunned fascination. The enormous claws stabbed downwards into the now ramp-like section of road before dragging the tips slowly back up and disappearing from sight, leaving jagged grooves in the concrete.

Newt staggered unsteadily to his feet, shaking uncontrollably. It had found him. It was right there. There was an actual real live Kaiju, right there, in front of him! And it was going to kill him.

His vision wavered, and for a moment he saw _himself_ , very little, standing below at the bottom of a short ragged tunnel, a toppled streetlight rocking back and forth over the opening. Was he having an out-of-body experience?

The colors were so strange though… But not. The colors, the small size of everything, seemed somehow normal, and yet they were not… Not human colors, they were...

{ _Move._ }

 _WHAAAAAAAT?!_ That was-

 **CRAASHH!**

Otachi's POV.

The female Kaiju plunged her snout into the short, ragged tunnel she'd dug into the Vermin burrow.

That had been fun! It reminded her of something the tiny little Not-Vermin had seen on a glowing flat box: an elegant four-legged creature with a pointed face and plumy tail, pouncing down through a layer of snow into a tinier creature's burrow to catch and eat it. Ha ha!

A couple of the other Kaiju shared her amusement at the parallel. But, wait, something was wrong...

Meanwhile she wore away the edges of the tunnel, screech-snarling excitedly and snapping her jaws open and closed on the disintegrating rubble. Shouldn't she be more careful…?

She bit at several bigger scraps and yanked them away as if ripping into flesh\- _so very bad_ \- small globs of acid dripping here and there. Had to reach the Vermin... No, wait, she had to be careful!

She didn't want to hurt the Not-Vermin-

 ** _{WHAT?! INCORRECT! KILL IT!}_**

The order slammed through her mind, and the Kaiju gave a yelping growl of pain. THEM!

She reared back, frantic, roaring in panic and in an attempt at defiance. She would not obey THEM! Not anymore!

THEY were incredulous; THEIR creation was not obeying? It had to! THEY would force it harder, make it pay for its impudence.

{ _NOOO!_ } she screamed back, angry and desperate and so very afraid; what if the two of Them had been wrong?

Somehow, because of the astonishing strange wonder of 'Drifting' with the little Not-Vermin, the two Kaiju hadn't been being affected by THEIR presence as strongly as before.

It had never been so absent, so not-overwhelming, in All-Of-Their memories! THEIR constant subtle influence had been fainter, weaker- until now- and the punishments less torturous. It was incredible, unimaginable!

It had begun as the Not-Vermin somehow mentally connected with a mostly dead Kaiju, and the effect had increased for the two as They left the Exit. THEY had thought the two would still do as They'd been ordered, though.

Well, no! For once they would do as They wanted!

… But what if They'd been wrong? What if THEY could still reach Them?

Her head was already lowering back to the hole she'd dug. No! The Kaiju split her jaws apart and quickly sent out her tongue-like sensor ahead of her fangs. If nothing else it could push the Not-Vermin out of the way if THEY made her try to hurt him/it.

 _Him._ Not ' _it,_ ' not ' _vermin_ ' like THEY tried to make her think. Also maybe the pain of biting into the sensitive appendage would help interfere…

The dark, cloudy, angry presence of THEM seemed to fade a bit, and she relaxed cautiously but gratefully. Maybe proximity to the little Not-Vermin helped weaken THEIR control, or was like a shield from it.

{ _Hope caution relief uncertain thankful so good relief happy afraid careful_ _…_ _!_ }

The winged Kaiju split the outer layers of her sensor apart and swept it very carefully around in front of the little Not-Vermin. Three sensitive tendrils protruded from the sensor's delicate center, waving eagerly through the air in search of information.

Oohhhhh so interesting! Intriguing composition, so many different things. Not silicon like Kaiju, instead carbon-based, with much water everywhere- a hydrogen-and-oxygen compound tainted with various chemicals- also hints of sodium chloride outside and inside, there she sensed calcium, and iron traces with more oxygen flowing through everything (there were a couple drops of this- Vermin blood- staining the thin covering), there was much carbon dioxide in the air which was a funny 'smell,' and the thick multicolored outside coverings were not skin after all, not even connected, and that metal structure over there was neat, 'smelled' fascinating, she wondered if Death-Things were made of the same materials...

This was more detail about v/Vermin, not vermins, than any of All-Of-Them had had a chance to learn so far!

Ah, and also interesting; some of her awareness was bleeding over to the tiny nice little one/Not-Vermin.

It- _He_ \- could not understand Their senses, which were so different from those of his species. There was a different visible light spectrum, and "hyoomin"s/'humans' did not have the other sense. The closest they had to it was _maybe_ smell, but that was still quite different; it wasn't as exact, in sensing location or specifics.

And the 'human' sense of smell was much weaker than a Kaiju's anyway.

She gave a soft, gentle rumble and moved the sensory tendrils closer but more slowly, being veerry careful.

{ _Interest curiosity hi,_ } she greeted. She couldn't reach him with her tail or any claws, and besides, those were too big; they might cause accidental damage.

The tiny little creature nervously reached out a trembling hand. Wait, what he going to...

{ _Careful you tiny little one do not-_ } Touch. { _Ow!_ }

The Kaiju recoiled with a thin little shriek, the side of one jaw accidentally ripping through another edge of the tunnel. The tendrils had already retracted and now were safely covered by the sensor's outer layers.

She raised her head and flicked the sensor out in the air a few times, trying to get the sting out of it and hissing. EX _CUSE_ YOU, there is a REASON those were _covered_ , ' _human_ ,' they are very _SENSITIVE...!_

After a moment she turned back to the hole, where the little Not-Vermin seemed to be trying to climb out and escape. { _No._ }

She glared slightly and moved closer, and the tiny creature gave a yelp before sliding back down the makeshift ramp and backing up.

 _Hah._ Good.


	4. Chapter 4

**Greetings! Hope you're enjoying the story. Here's where we really diverge from the movie's plot. Enjoy!**

Leatherback's POV.

Hmm, what was going on here? There was some kind of upset in the Death-Thing.

Well, more than before, and different.

The Kaiju walked curiously around the defeated Death-Thing again, still finding it hard to believe that this terrible enemy could not even move. This one had been responsible for the deaths of ten of Them, and now could do nothing at all but stand there-

 _What was that!_

Something moved on top! He paced more quickly around to the front, wary.

...Oh. Hm. It was a little hatch opening up, and a tiny little vermin was climbing out.

That didn't make much sense. It would be very, very dangerous for the puny creatures if he decided to harm them, obviously.

And if the vermin were running out of air or something inside their Death-Thing, they could've just opened the hatch while staying inside and relatively safe. Very strange.

The tiny vermin stared up at him and took a nervous step back. _Good._ The Kaiju bared his teeth in a quiet, smug growl.

He tilted his head and watched as the first creature quickly turned and leaned over to assist a second one, which seemed to be injured. _Hah_.

From the memories They had gotten from the little Not-vermin, these two vermin were the "Han-sin"s ( _'pilots' of this Death-Thing from that very hot dry land often very gruff not to be messed with_ ). The injured one- bleeding from the head and holding one arm awkwardly- was the male parent, and the other was the male offspring.

The injured vermin gave a tired or pained groan as it climbed out. The first one made questioning noises to it, "Howzyerahm?" and the injured one retorted tiredly, "Aahjus gimmythugun."

Such a strange way of communicating.

The first handed a tiny object to the second, which looked at the Kaiju and shouted at him, "Heyyoo!"

The crazy little vermin, with one injured and their Death-Thing paralyzed, were trying to get the attention of the Kaiju that had defeated them?!

According to the one Not-vermin's memories, these two were known for being bold... But, really? Climbing out from relative safety to face a Kaiju, alone, helpless, injured, with waves and rain and wind and lightning?

That could be doing something _really stupid_.

Disbelievingly he tilted his head and moved closer, blinking curiously and sniffing at them with a suspicious chirr.

These were odd little things. Were they planning to yell Vermin-gibberish insults at him or something? Were they upset because surviving the defeat of their Death-Thing would tarnish some weird vermin sense of honor?

As one, the duo raised their arms to each point a tiny thing at him. There was a puffing hiss and two red glows appeared at the tips.

The tiny glows came- _AAAAAAGH!_

The Kaiju recoiled, roaring in shocked pain as a single red spark stabbed into one of his left eyes.

Far away, the female sent a wince of sympathy and concern, along with disgusted anger at the two stupid vermin who dared hurt her Brother-friend.

The male shook his head, bellowing in pain as his eye burned and streamed brightly glowing blood down his face. _AAAARRGHH, those vermin would pay for this!_

 **{FINE, YES, TWO FEWER NUISANCES. KILL!}**

THEIR order was more dismissive than forceful, but hardly necessary. The Kaiju had already lifted both arms, still painfully squinting the damaged eye closed as he prepared to bring his massive fists down on the two-!

...Hmm. He paused for a moment, eyes narrowing.

 **{WHAT?! KILL!}**

He winced. Now THEY had taken notice, were angry at his hesitation, and demanded that he obey. But...

After a moment he lowered his arms, glaring and giving a low, dangerous hiss. Stupid stupid stupid...

Furious mental shrieking erupted from THEM: **{HOW DARE YOU, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! KILL! DESTROY!}**

The Kaiju shuddered, jaws scraping open in pain as he somehow managed to keep still.

It was hard to think, almost everything had gone blank with THEIR order filling his mind, nothing else seemed to exist. His massive arms twitched, barely held back from attacking.

THEY were overwhelming, as always, blocking out everything else... And, yet...

Some thought... flickered... Something important... some forgotten reason... Some reason he shouldn't move... Shouldn't do whatever it was THEY were ordering... THEY-

That thought helped, sparked something.

The Kaiju growled weakly, some consciousness flickering back. THEY would _not_ force him to do _anything_ anymore. He remembered that, forced himself to focus on it; he could resist now, he could disobey THEM, he _could!_

{ _Yes yes Brother excitement You can do it encouragement remember what We're doing!_ } someone called- ah yes! His Sister-friend with wings.

Farther away, doing... something important. Something that might help.

THEIR influence didn't feel _quite_ as strong now... With great difficulty and concentration, the Kaiju lifted one heavy arm, then set it back down to one side. He lifted the other and did the same, slowly turning, moving away from his enemy.

THEY roared in fury and disbelief. The Kaiju winced, squinting blindly and straining to push past the blankness and past THEIR control, trying to focus on something, anything.

Something simple, something easy.

He rotated a hand to cup some seawater and lifted it slightly\- _no, not attacking! Focus!_ He carried the water up to his bloody eye, then flinched; it stung horribly.

He concentrated on the pain. Small, simple, easy to deal with.

With a quiet hiss he shook his head, flinging water and trails of glowing blood all over. Spitefully, he half-hoped some of it had gotten on the two stupid vermin and the Death-Thing.

But no, he knew that it hadn't. Probably a good thing, as it would've pleased THEM. And he did not want that. He huffed quietly, exhausted but relieved that some of THEIR control had faded.

"Heyyuh… Eny'aidyahwhoiwurnotdedyet?" one of the vermin- the uninjured one- interrupted, addressing the other and looking warily at the Kaiju. Said-Kaiju turned his head to snarl and quietly snap his teeth at them.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Very. Fortunate. Vermin.

Abruptly something popped up in the water some distance off: something shiny, red, and metal. _Oh joy._

Otachi POV.

These 'humans' were weird little creatures. Also foolish. What made those two think that hurting her friend was a good idea?! And, coincidentally, it had happened at almost the same time as the nice one accidentally hurting her sensor.

Bizarre little things.

She half-jokingly offered to drip acid on the two nasty vermin, but the male reluctantly disagreed. She listened to his explanation, and gave an impressed mental nod/bow of admiration at his display of mercy.

(And They didn't know if the acid would affect non-metals anyway.)

Oh. And apparently the container-for-vermin she'd torn from the three-armed red Death-Thing had just surfaced. _Humph._

She turned her attention back to the little Not-Vermin/human huddling in the hideaway-burrow in front of her. She huffed and carefully stuck her head back down towards it, splitting her jaws and extending the sensor again.

The tiny creature cowered away from it a little and she gave a soft crooning sound. { _I'm not going to hurt you you're safe tiny nice one I'm friendly I promise._ }

The little human hesitated, shaking in place. He was so very scared, but also incredibly amazed, interested, nervous, confused, excited.

The female kept the three sensitive tendrils safely concealed inside the sensor this time. { _No touching it hurt,_ } she chided. She couldn't sense anything this way, but at least there was no risk of damage.

She paused as wariness, fear, and hostility flared up from the male, still in the water.

Her sensor froze in place and her tail twitched anxiously. Her friend had just spotted another Death-Thing approaching in the distance! And this one wasn't affected by his energy blast.

Ok, time to leave!

{ _Come come come we must go!_ } she urged the little human, gently and carefully poking at him with the inner part of the sensor.

He moved away, scared, and she immediately pulled back. { _Noooo I wouldn't ever hurt you so sorry little one please don't be scared._ } She rested her head on the ground and lay down in, honestly, a rather silly attempt to look smaller.

{ _No danger from me only danger if we stay here bad Death-Thing coming we must leave hurry come please now!_ } It was a little odd to find herself pleading with this tiny creature. It was smaller than THEM, but so very nice.

 **{KILL IT!}**

She jolted, forcefully reminded of the danger THEY always posed. { _Aaa no no won't kill kind nice little creature likes Us admires Us somehow keeps (cruel evil tormentors)YOU farther away from Us!_ }

 **{EXACTLY! IT IS INTERFERENCE! KILL!}**

{ _Nooo!_ } she cried, struggling, {S _top don't I won't obey YOU no!_ }

She cringed, pressing flat against the ground as THEIR rage pounded through her head, eliminating almost everything else. No, no, no... { _No,_ } she whimpered, trembling in pain, thoughts flickering blurrily, { _won't..._ }

{ _You can do it Sister THEY are NOT going to win!_ } the male promised fiercely. She squinted her eyes closed, grateful but still in pain, weakly flicking her sensor.

{ _Little one help somehow please hurry tired hurting please..._ } One curled corner of the sensor's outer layer hooked around something- the tiny one's arm- and she tugged carefully at it.

"Y-y-yoowanmeetuh… cuhmwithyoo?" the Ve\- no, little creature, asked uncertainly, "Uhm. W-willyoo leevtheezpeepluhlon, ifaidoo?"

Gibberish Vermin noises. Irritating, yes? Want to\- Nooo… { _No!_ } She squinted sharply, trying to block out THEIR intrusive thoughts.

Little faint wisps of something...: _'worry nervousness concern-for-other-humans fear interest hope uncertainty._ '

She let out the softest, gentlest noise she could, still straining against their order, { _Here little human here thank you help come please._ }

She tugged at the little creature's arm again, and sagged in relief when it\- he- hesitantly moved closer. After another moment he scrambled nervously up the jagged concrete ramp. THEIR harsh influence diminished a bit.

 _'Shocked stunned confused, Kaiju why are you laying on the ground like that, are you ok are you sick do Kaiju even GET sick? This is insane, what is going on?_ ' The winged Kaiju dragged her sensor back into her mouth and smiled weakly. Nice human.

{ _Have to leave sorry will try not to scare you thank you so much tiny brave little human._ } She raised her head and stuck her sensor out again, carefully nudging at the tiny person with one unfurling corner of it.

He flinched yet stayed in place, albeit nervously. "Uhhmm aidontnohwuhtyoowant- _Oh_ maiwrrd yrrfeysizolbluhdy!" Apologetic ripples of uncertainty and nervousness suddenly vanished behind a bright flash of shock, concern, and upset at seeing her bloodied face.

Touched, she sent surprise, appreciation, amusement, and fondness. { _Thank you sweet tiny one I am not badly injured We survive worse during battle._ }

There was a problem, she realized as clarity returned: how would she carry the tiny human? Her claws were too strong; they could accidentally hurt him if she held too tightly, and the same thing with her tail-claws.

Could he stand on top of her back? No, not when they had to fly.

{ _Friend/Sister we must leave soon NOW leave or help attack I'm in danger from the Death-Thing(Blue-with-glowing-fire-center killer-of-five-of-Us vanished-after-killing-Head-Blade-Sister in-night-battle-moved-'boat'-and-lost-'pilot' in-cold-stormy-wave-place!)_ }

Oh no! Umm... Quickly she scooped the human up with her sensor as carefully as possible- much to his startled protest.

' _Aaaa, he's gonna eat me gonna eat me, this was a stupid mistake I'm gonna die!_ ' he thought wordlessly, shouting in panic.

{ _No no you are safe I promise at least I hope and am trying sorry._ }

She wasn't sure how much of this was getting through, since he was still squirming around in terror.

The Kaiju gently placed the tip of the sensor between the eye-bearing protrusions on her snout. Then she curled two of the split sensor-corners around the backs of those and kept ahold of the human with the remaining third one.

 _WHOA!_

OOHHHH the presence of THEM went away almost _COMPLETELY~!_ She swayed a little, dazed at the sudden absence of pain.

{ _Soooo wonderful amazing oh incredible fantastic joy wonder how indescribable relief joy bliss!_ } The rest of her kind reeled in amazement at the sensation.

Meanwhile, the little human calmed down slightly, though continued whipping his head around in confusion. _'Wooww this is so weird what is going on?_ '

{ _You great WONDERFUL amazing tiny person SO NIIICE I will try to be sooo very careful with this I hope I don't hurt you at all!_ } She stood up carefully, lifting her head and unfurling her wings.

The human gave a yip of shock and amazement. _'Woooowww I'm so high up this is insane, crazy, oh my g- ARE THOSE WINGS?! This is insane amazing a Kaiju that can fly wait can he actually fly or are these vestigial wings, no they're way too big and well-formed for that, are they for gliding, but they're really thin maybe like seagull-_ '

{ _I'm a female a 'hrr' or 'shee' in your noise-language,_ } the Kaiju informed him, { _Careful now about to fly excitement!_ }

The human apparently understood that part and held on tight.

{ _Good human._ }

 _ **WHOOOOSHH!**_ The Kaiju sprang into the air, pumping her wings hard. Her talons scrabbled, pushed off nearby structures, and thrust her into the sky as took flight for the first time.

"WOHHHHWW!" the little human shouted, radiating ecstatic ' _surprise overwhelming-excitement fear disbelief!_ '

The Kaiju gave a grin and shrill roar of delight. She'd never done this before, but They all had memories of it from previous ones of Them.

She was inclined to resent and loathe anything THEY 'gave' her. But her wings, flight, the sky...! And now, no longer captive to gravity or THEM?

 _Oh these were glories unimagined!_

Her friend sent back a glow of joy at the shared elation and delight in the experience of flying. There was also anxiety and fear and cold burning hate at the Death-Thing trying to kill Him.

The female gave a bloodthirsty snarl and beat her wings faster.

She braced for THEIR insidious influence to rear its head and fuel more violent thoughts... but it was hardly even there, just faint background noise!

Incredible... But she didn't have time to focus on it.

For now, _to battle!_


	5. Chapter 5

**Greetings! This story has gotten its first review, yippee! Thank you SO MUCH, Guest! You absolutely made my day, thank you so much! SO, here be my reply.**

 **Yahooo! You're welcome, I'm so glad you like it! Aww, you're right, there should be more. (I think there are a few FanFics with Baby-Otachi though!) Agreed. Exactly, the cuteness and friendship are so much fun! _Very_ right indeed, no worries. Ahh, yes, that part's going to be... difficult. XP**

 **Again, thank you SO MUCH for your amazingly kind review. I hope you enjoy this chapter! T'is a battle.**

The flying Kaiju pumped her wings hard, sending her and the little human soaring over cracked paths and demolished dwelling places.

She had an idea of something she could do to help, and asked her friend if it were possible.

It was, he told her, and offered to draw the blue Death-Thing away so she could try. He'd been using the immobilized one and the humans on top as a sort of living shield, figuring the other Death-Thing and vermin/humans would try to avoid harming these. Brilliant!

Also, he added, he had an idea based on this… Could she do it?

The female made a face; Uh, it would be difficult, and very cumbersome, and she wasn't even sure she could lift that much, but she would try. Still, wouldn't it be easier if they just…

Yes, but it would still be better to…

Alright, fine, could you at least lighten the load?

HA, with pleasure! Any specific damage?

He'd think about it, he assured, and... { _Delight/relief a_ _h there you are!_ }

The 'conversation' of ideas and half-finished thoughts had taken just moments, and now the flier was close enough that the male had spotted her.

She had just reached the battle taking place past the harbor... Or, _not_ taking place, since the male was mostly just avoiding the Death-Thing.

The blue metal titan was facing away from her, concentrating on trying to reach and fight with the male.

"Woh!" yelled the human upon seeing the battle, startling her for a second. As she swooped in for the attack he began shouting in panic, "Jipsee! Jipseedeynjer! Lookowtguyz incumming, lookowtlookowtlookowt!"

Ohh, he was trying to warn them.

{ _Sorry haha too loud for them to hear you~!_ } She was going to enjoy this, she decided with a feral grin.

The Kaiju braced herself, angled in low to the water... aaannd... _Yes!_

She snatched the floating red shape in her talons and swept it up like a bird of prey. It was the escape-vessel from the disabled three-armed Death-Thing, with three vermin/humans inside.

At the same time, the male galloped through the water toward her, and the blue Death-Thing slowly turned in place to follow him.

The female bared her teeth in a smile, { _Perfect timing thank you friend yes this will hit them HARD!_ }

She swung the red hunk of metal forward and released. It hit the Death-Thing just below the glowing yellow face, and both Kaiju let out roars of victory. The damage would hardly distract the Death-Thing for long though, so they had to hurry.

The female couldn't spray any acid while holding the human with her sensor, so she busied herself raking at the red-striped blue head with her talons. The little human was deeply upset and yelling for her to stop.

She trilled apologetically, sorry to have upset the nice little friend, { _Guilt sorry little one please don't worry don't be sad We don't intend to kill them._ }

Apparently it got through to him, since he stopped writhing and went quiet, radiating guilt and fear and misery and worry for the other humans. The pain of it hurt.

She apologized sincerely again but continued in the attack, while the male did his part.

She shoved at the Death-Thing's front and then the back, hoping to unbalance Their metal enemy. Then she scratched and jabbed at the thin covering of the face, using multiple sections of her lower jaws to accomplish this, and worked at tearing off an arm with her tail and talons.

A powerful metal hand reached across and grabbed the tail just behind its grasping claws. _Oh no!_

The Death-Thing yanked it away from the damaged metal arm, artificial veins and sinew exposed and sparking, bleeding stinking fluids from deep gashes. The winged Kaiju flailed her claws at her enemy, scoring a flurry of scratches in the metal wrist.

It made little difference as the Death-Thing flung her away. She tried desperately to right herself with her wings, but couldn't!

The male gave a rumble of worried concern as she crashed into the sea.

Frantically she thrashed all five limbs, striving to keep her head above water and away from the crashing waves; she herself was fine but _she couldn't let the little human get hurt!_

There was a high-pitched yelp as water- freezing, according to the human- splashed across her snout. _'AAAA COLD cold cold oh my word I hate this so so cold this is the worst!_ '

The Kaiju gave a relieved chitter as she clambered back onto all fours, { _RELIEF delight ahh you are alright dear tiny fragile little one!_ }

She turned her head and saw the blue Death-Thing twitch back in shock at seeing what the male had just about finished, and she let out a sharp bark of amusement; the grey Death-Thing was now minus two and a half limbs (legs and right arm) and random chunks of armor.

{ _Art!_ } she joked to her Brother, thoroughly pleased and making a noise that was meant to be a laugh. It wasn't a sound They'd had much opportunity to make.

She bounded awkwardly forward, moving a little bit like the male as she mainly used her wing-limbs to move and tried not to let her hind limbs drag in the surf. The human made a startled "YAAaaggh!" noise at the motion, and the sight of the damage.

The paralyzed Death-Thing would be noticeably lighter now, much easier to carry.

"WeytWUHT?!" the little human exclaimed, apparently having overheard that bit. ' _You're kidnapping the Hansens?_ '

{ _Yes haha and their Death-Thing 'Striker' delightful fun scaring them useful living shields against vermin/human explosions and against other Death-Things I think using more tiny humans would make an even better shield hmm but also want place empty of humans (except you) peace and quiet any ideas?_ }

 _'What what what what what what what._ '

That wasn't very helpful. { _A shame._ }

{ _Oh well We shall figure it out as We go find a safe place Ourselves then rest and think and plan,_ } the male shrugged mentally, { _nearly done let's go soon as possible only problem how do We stop the blue Death-Thing from following?_ }

Said-Death-Thing was already charging toward them. The female wondered if they could hold one or both of the nasty vermin in front of them and show the Death-Thing. Maybe that would cause enough confusion or hesitation to buy Them some time?

Nope, the two 'pilots' had already hidden back inside their now-severely-damaged grey Death-Thing. Drat.

{ _Other vermin maybe,_ } the male suggested, { _One of Us two (but which one?) distracts while Other flees with passengers/prisoners._ } The two dodged to either side as the blue Death-Thing reached them, the male ducking around behind the mangled grey 'Jaeger' and the female springing into the air in the opposite direction.

{ _You're slower than me and the human is in danger while We battle,_ } the female reasoned, { _You go with him get a head start in escaping CAREFUL pleeeeaase I fight and distract blue Death-Thing then return to You soon (carrying grey Death-Thing and nasty vermins ugh) and We flee._ }

{ _Agreed good plan but fear anxiety worrying for You You might die PAIN loss no more dyyiiinng!_ } the male pleaded. He bounded around the paralyzed Death-Thing and feinted a swipe at the other one.

The female chirred comfortingly, { _Grateful to You sympathy affection reassurance I can fly this is new to them I'll be safe You and I make good plans and have resources go search for a safe place my friend We will WIN._ }

{ _Very well thank You I will take the tiny human and leave now please be careful Sister-Friend._ }

{ _Yes I will thanks affection to You._ } She swooped around the blue Death-Thing, roaring and raking the air with spread talons.

The distraction worked; their enemy turned to face her, and the male charged unimpeded toward the harbor.

The blue Death-Thing began to look back in his direction but she slashed viciously at the already-damaged shoulder. Ahh, that caused a great deal of damage, ha ha!

She spun and ducked just close enough, then snatched at the nearly severed arm with her tail-claws. They dug in for a better grip and she flapped as hard as she could in the opposite direction from the male. This would either pull the Death-Thing further away from him or tear off the damaged metal limb.

Either option would be pleasing.

As it turned out, both possibilities occurred- to some extent. She managed to tug the blue titan a few steps out to sea before several damaged cables and components in the shoulder gave way. The limb was torn almost completely off, but the resulting slack gave the Death-Thing a chance to swing the uninjured arm around and cause some damage too.

The winged Kaiju shrieked in agony, almost dropping the human as torturous crunching sounds announced the damage of several bones in her tail. The Death-Thing pulled the arm back, hard, dragging the airborne Kaiju closer.

{ _PAIN SCREAMING AAAAAA Alright you paid me back for doing the same to your arm it was not funny I am sorry please stop DO NOT you have two arms I only have the one tail and you can get repaired I cannot AAAAAAAA LET GO!_ }

The male called with desperate worry and concern, ready to hurry back and assist her. She refused, shaking her head frantically, { _NO Friend stay there stay safe I will be there soon (not sure how)!_ }

Oh wait!

She whirled around in midair, screeching madly. She stabbed her talons at a downward angle into the Death-Thing's arms and sunk her wing-claws into the shoulders.

Awkwardly she ducked her head down, folded it to her chest, and leaned closer- looking, to observers, a little bit as if she were hugging the hated Death-Thing. Ugh.

The human, still held carefully atop her snout, yelped in terror at coming face to face with the yellow visor. The Death-Thing was even more startled and began to backpedal almost frantically in surprise, either at the unexpected close-up attack or at seeing the impossible sight of a little human being held on top of a Kaiju's head in the midst of battle.

{ _Ha ha._ }

She ripped her claws from the punctures they'd made in the armor and shoved herself into the air, using the top of the Death-Thing as a springboard. Then she rocketed back toward land, where the male had made decent progress in his retreat.

He would've run farther, but had worried that he'd be too distant to help if she needed back-up.

She smiled fondly, sending appreciation, affection, and mild chastisement.

He groaned plaintively, { _I know I know but so sick of Our dying and this time I could help We are the only two of Us here I would be SO ALONE paaaiiin so sad and guilty if You were killed my fault sad helpless._ }

Touched, she sent him a warm, purring chirr of thanks and comfort.

 _'Are you guys like mates or something?_ ' Ah, the little human.

{ _No but very close good friends like siblings He is so very kind sweet strong brother,_ } she sent, { _good family-love instead of mate-love besides I like another male of Us purr affection light happy warm bright but (grief-pain saaaaad!) He is still trapped in sick-dying-rotting-dead World with waiting rest of Us(sympathy guilt pain) and evil cruel THEM(HORROR TERROR!) worry pain grief resigned-to-loss paaiin...!_ }

The tiny human winced sharply at the force of it, _'Ow. Sorry._ '

She hummed softly in response, her tone sad. They soon landed on a wide, squat building just in front of the male.

His eye still hurt, but he gave a deep rumble of happiness and greeting to his friend, bobbing his head slightly. He'd figured out a good spot for the little human to stay so it/he wouldn't be injured while they fled.

She gave a pleased trill- { _Great job job thank you very clever_ }- and a chirr of agreement.

Carefully, sooo carefully, she lifted the fragile little human from her head and placed him on her friend. A good secure spot was right between two dull, vaguely triangular spines in a line along one side of his back, close to the neck and shoulders.

The tiny human flailed his arms a little, but, seeing as the two Kaiju were relatively calm and not projecting any aggression, he was less panicked than before. The female gave an encouraging purr, { _Good job little human brave clever tiny one._ }

She gave a gentle purr-hum to the male, { _You keep yourself and the tiny one safe Brother-Friend love You goodbye for now._ }

{ _You stay safe too love You Sister-Friend miss You goodbye._ }

They two Kaiju lightly touched their heads together for a quick moment, sharing a bright burst of { _Warmth LOVE PROTECTIVENESS WORRY concern!_ }- then turned away and hurried their separate ways.

Newton winced again, touching a hand to his head... and then yelping and holding on for dear life as the gigantic Kaiju bounded forward.

 _'Whoooaaa dude what is going on here where are we going?!_ '

{ _Far away away from the Death-Thing,_ } the Kaiju answered, trying to find a path through the least crowded sections of the cramped city. He'd already squeezed through the trail of destruction his friend had left, and was taking a meandering route further inland.

 _'Why are you taking me with you?!_ ' the human all but squeaked, nervous and panicking again. First the Kaiju could _HEAR AND UNDERSTAND HIS THOUGHTS AND VICE VERSA_ , partly, and now he was being _kidnapped?!_

...Uh, adult-napped? Scientist-napped? Whatever. Word-choice probably didn't matter. Especially when they _could apparently READ HIS FLIPPIN' MIND!_

{ _You are safe calm down,_ } the gorilla-like Kaiju retorted, mildly irritated, { _Bringing tiny-_ _you_ _along because you shared thoughts with Us (and continue to do so) the memories and thoughts are so very strange new confusing but nice no presence of THEM close proximity to you seems to help block THEIR influence also you apparently like Us._ }

 _'Oh well that's comforting,_ ' Newt thought, sarcastic and just a little delirious. He hadn't caught all of that, or entirely understood it, but he got the gist of it.

He held onto the leathery spine-protrusion on the Kaiju's back and shut his eyes tightly, doing that 'take deep breaths' thing to stay calm. He tried to list what he'd picked up from the Kaiju about the current situation, figuring it'd give him something to focus on and maybe plan with.

Ok. So. Big-Gorilla-Kaiju was a bit irritated at him but found him useful, didn't like humans at all but wouldn't wantonly kill them for no reason. Flying-Girl-Kaiju was friendlier to him, and she and the male were super close like sister and brother. She was going to distract Gipsy Danger- it was unclear whether she would try to kill the Jaeger team or not- while the male retreated as far from the ocean as possible.

Away from the Precursors- the awful, horrific 'THEM' which were _TERRIFYING_ and _hurt HURT **HURT**_ so much!

He shuddered involuntarily and the Kaiju gave a quiet growl of agreement, shoving through half of a large building. Newt yelped and curled away from the explosion of flying glass.

{ _That?_ } the Kaiju practically snorted, { _Tiny-fragile-thin-clear-hard-flat-cracking-stuff shatters easily so delicate how could it hurt even a tiny vermin?_ }

' _It's sharp,_ ' Newt retorted, shaking slivers of glass out of his hair and flapping his limbs one by one to get rid of any other pieces. Several- from dime-sized to plate-sized- tinkled merrily and landed among the myriad of other fragments covering the Kaiju's side like oversized glitter.

{ _Tickles fainter than skin-bug legs,_ } the Kaiju commented absently, forcing his way past yet another building.

Newt sat up straight, "Oh man." He whipped his head side to side and saw that, indeed, there were Kaiju skin-parasites crawling around all over the place. They seemed to be avoiding him though. Why?

{ _I tell them to,_ } the Kaiju answered, as if it were obvious. The skin-bugs were a little annoying- skittering and crawling everywhere and nipping here and there and making their tiny presences known even if they were very quiet. But they also helped patch up bleeding injuries and nibbled away dead skin and were occasionally sort-of entertaining to poke around when They were bored.

Newt was astonished, _'You can tell them what to do?_ '

{ _Yes easily but only simple tiny things (go here bite there stop biting) they and their thoughts are so very very simple short tiny._ }

' _You can… not read their minds exactly, but, do the Drifting thing you and I are doing right now?_ '

The Kaiju gave a mental shrug, { _Sort of different We 'overhear' skin-bugs like We 'overhear' some other creatures (creatures living here in this Living World (and other Worlds dead now sadness regret) nice and much much muuuuch smarter than skin-bugs)._ }

 _'Other creatures?! That's SO insanely cool no wait, hold on, I'll come back to that later gotta stay on track sorry. So you can control the skin parasites sort of? Like those Precursors/scary 'THEM' things?_ '

Newton flinched almost before he could finish the thought. The Kaiju reared up with a furious, hissing roar, snarling and snapping his teeth in the air. { _NEVER NEVER **NEVER** like THEM!_}

In the distance, the winged Kaiju hissed ferociously in agreement, { _NEVER like THEM hatred disgust fear pain anger warning I know you meant no offense tiny human but never compare Us to THEM!_ }

"Ok, ok!" Newton yelped, holding one hand to his aching head, "Ow, aaagh, I'm sorry."

The gorilla-like Kaiju dropped back onto all fours with a growl and hurried along, mentally squirming, { _Rage fury HATRED at THEM disgust anger resentment uncomfortable uneasy regret/apology never ever ever want to be anything like THEM shudder growl sorry disgust hate hate pain bitterness regret._ }

Newt awkwardly patted the Kaiju with his free hand.

{ _Appreciation for considerate human forgiveness but stop that._ }

"'Kay."

 **Haha, this chapter was fun to write. Oh, by the way "this" shows spoken words by humans, and 'this' shows thoughts that're thought by humans. Well, just Newt actually, at this point. And he's mostly thinking at the Kaiju instead of speaking aloud because 1: thoughts are faster and more spontaneous, and 2: he's stressed. Speaking coherently can be hard at the best of times.**

 **Thank you!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Greetings. This chapter, along with any scrap of cleverness this story has, are dedicated to our beloved eldest ferret. We had to... say goodbye to her, just over a week ago, on April 3, 2018. She had cancer for a long time, and she was amazing and strong and brilliant** **and** **fought it bravely to the end! And in the end she wasn't alone or in pain. We all miss her very much.**

 **...anyway.**

 **To super legenda: Yay, ****my work has been considered cool** **! I feel so happy and honored! Thank you so very much for the positive feedback!**

 **To senpen banka: Thank you very much, I'm glad you like it!**

 **To FantasyLover86: Thank you so much! I'll do my best.**

The Death-Thing was quite damaged by now, the female Kaiju observed with pride and a visible smirk.

But the Death-Thing was still dangerous, and would follow her and the male if she tried to leave now. There was probably too much damage done for the metal titan to follow very well, but they would be travelling relatively slowly and she'd like to make sure…

Aha! She remembered something from the last time one of Them had fought this Death-Thing.

Perhaps a distraction could work, and she wouldn't have to risk further injury.

She flapped away, back toward slightly deeper water. Her enemy paused uncertainly for a moment before turning back toward where the male had fled, and she wondered for a second if the Death-Thing thought that she was giving up and thus less of a threat.

 _Ha! Hardly._

The Kaiju glanced around before homing in on the motionless form of the second Death-Thing to have fallen that night: the bulky greenish-grey thick one with strong extending fists and no vermin-like little head on top.

The two tough little v/Vermin with white head-fur were standing atop the wreckage, along with the three younger ones from the three-armed red Death-Thing. Perfect!

But her friend had been the one to defeat this one, so she felt slightly guilty, like she'd be wrongly taking credit... But he assured her it was fine, and that he'd watch eagerly through her eyes.

{ _Reluctance appreciation alright_ _!_ } she sent after a brief moment, mostly perking up, determined to enjoy this for him.

She called loudly to her enemy; The blue Death-Thing had already noticed where she was going and was now rushing back. _Not soon enough~!_

She gave a few squawking barks, smug laughter, and landed by the downed 'Jaeger' with a relatively small splash.

The winged Kaiju leered down at the vermin taking shelter from the waves atop one of their beaten Death-Things. Beaten but not completely dead.

Not dead yet. Should she... make sure…?

Should… Wait, there was… { _Wary concern Sister fear?_ } Get rid of... the bad things... Had to get rid of. Yes, kil **l** , **kill all** \- _NO!_

She shrieked, swinging her head painfully side to side and roaring loudly, breaking through THEIR control. It probably looked like a threat display to the v- Vermin.

{ _NO We decided We would not kill any more so We will NOT We will never again listen to YOU(bad evil screaming fear pain death)!_ }

There was a dark shadow of rage and indignance and threat from THEM, and she held in a shiver of instinctive terror. No no no no no… Almost done, one thing to do and then she'd be able to flee and be farther away from THEM and it would be alright.

{ _Brave strong dear Sister good job hold on well done proud of you sympathy_ _pride_ _love!_ }

{ _Grateful love thanks Brother,_ } she sent, { _worried almost slipped foggy lost bad THEM hate fear must not slip again danger almost done soon I come I can do it._ }

She lowered her head over the downed Death-Thing and tiny fragile Vermin again, her jaws and acid pouch right above them.

The blue Death-Thing had slowed to a wary, uneasy halt a short distance away, and she bared her teeth in a grim smirk.

The last time this blue one fought one of Them, the 'pilots' had preceded the battle by moving a small-floating-metal-thing-of-vermin away from danger. This was something They could work with.

The Kaiju pointedly shivered her dangerous jaws directly above the five tiny Vermin and metal pseudo-island. The blue Death-Thing waited tensely, and took a very slow, cautious limp forward.

Instantly the Kaiju dropped her head lower, opening her jaws and choking out a little spurt of acid. It splattered into the water past the Vermins' refuge, sizzling threateningly.

She bared her teeth again, swiveling her head upwards in a triumphant/smug movement that said better than any words, _'You see? Have I made my point? You cannot come any closer or I will hurt them._ '

The blue Death-Thing stayed frozen in place, remaining functioning fingers twitching helplessly.

Ha ha _HA!_ Victory over a Death-Thing, and without attack or injury, _yesss!_ This was immensely satisfying and fun!

Her Brother/Friend agreed, grinning.

She checked which direction the tide was moving, then aimed a larger spray of acid into it. It filled a few small waves- just behind the ones which were currently lapping against the downed Death-Thing and splashing the drenched Vermin.

{ _Ha ha enjoyable clever smug!_ } She flapped away as the huddled Vermin retreated in panic and the blue Death-Thing lunged forward to save them from the spreading acid.

The Kaiju grinned, reaching the nearly-forgotten 'Striker Eureka' in moments and grabbing ahold with her powerful talons.

A glance behind showed the blue Death-Thing holding the five tiny Vermin in one metal hand, staring after her. The waves splashed over the place where they'd been just moments ago, the blue glow already beginning to dissipate in the water.

The Kaiju snapped almost playfully at a couple loud-buzzing-floating-metal-things that had begun to approach. (They were mostly harmless, unlike the loud-swooping-metal-pinprick-things that sometimes attempted to injure Them.)

Then she lifted her wings and launched herself skyward, dragging the mangled Death-Thing with her and glaring warningly at the blue one. The blue Death-Thing could not follow and attack her while still keeping those five Vermin safe, yes?

The Kaiju kept a careful eye on her enemies and flapped harder, straining to clear the waves and reach the clouds with her heavy cargo.

Her friend had certainly helped lighten the load by removing all but one of the Death-Thing's limbs and much of the armor. Still, she reached down and tore off another chunk of metal between her jaws, tossing it into the water.

Aiming the scrap at the blue Death-Thing would've been nice, but there was no point being overly-antagonizing and possibly prompting some last-minute retaliation. That would be pushing it.

She gathered speed, heading over the land in a direction perpendicular to that taken by her partner, hoping the Vermin would ignore him in favor of following her false trail.

She considered letting the hostage Death-Thing smash against a few rooftops, but that would slow her down, and she already found it pretty amazing she could fly with this weight at all. And at such glorious speed!

And the farther she got from the Exit far beneath the sea, the fainter THEIR influence seemed to become. And soon she'd be so far away that THEY might not be able to reach her at all!

{ _Thank YOU for the wings,_ } she snarled in gleeful triumph, grinning ferociously and enjoying being able to sass THEM, { _Will the next of Us have them too?_ }

She gave an exultant, shrieking roar, a laugh. Then she raced onward, tearing through the sky, powerful and elated and triumphant and, and…!

And whatever this amazing sensation was.

This... This… being _untethered_ , unrestrained, safe and far from her enemies and- finally, unbelievably- unshackled from the suffocating control of THEM! She was…

...Well, whatever it was, she would continue to enjoy it and fly!

And she would soon fly even better, when not carrying the Death-Thing or the soon-to-be-born little Kaiju.

It took a very short while to catch up to her friend and the little nice-human. The flier purred as THEIR presence faded again. Ahh, sweet relief!

It was still hard to even comprehend the sensation, this almost total absence of THEM. No looming pointy dark cloud of threat and cold calculation and judging for weakness and thus change or death, no harsh orders demanding always death and death and death and death, no angry punishments of screaming fear and pain, no crushing control that took away every other thought…!

None of that. How?

The male agreed, amazed and honestly dumbfounded by the concept. It was so quiet, so peaceful and bright- relatively- without THEM lurking in Their-two minds.

Guilt rippled across the duo, though, knowing the rest of Them were still trapped in the rotting-sick-dying-World. Trapped as always, with THEM.

THEM, who were now raging and furious that THEY could no longer control or punish two of THEIR slaves. The rest of Them were still within reach of course.

The two shuddered, cringing in guilt as many of Them screamed in pain from THEIR lashing out. But They all insisted that the duo _NOT_ give Themselves up for the rest of Their sakes; There was _hope_ now!

Timid, uncertain, almost-not-daring-to-believe-it hope.

A bit like the hope that surfaced whenever one of Them first survived an attack on a New-Living-World that fought back, and They all might now have a chance to survive and live when it was Their turn to attack and then They'd all go to the New-Living(but-less-living-now)World and actually live out Their lives!

As usual the feeling was tempered by regret. All those tiny little creatures of the Living-Worlds would be dying, the strange beautiful Living-World slowly succumbing and dying and being how THEY wanted it and slowly rotting away. And then THEIR constructs would start rotting away, sick and dying, and They would be forced to attack a New-Living-World and die and die and die again.

But maybe not this time. Maybe, just maybe... somehow... Not. This. Time.

... Please?

The duo continued onwards, tired and hurting and doing Their best to find things to enjoy so the rest of Them could have some comfort, something good to hold onto.

The sky was one favorite subject, seen from two- and a half, via human- points of view. The massive, silvery-grey clouds were beautiful, as was the sound and sweet fresh smell of pattering rain.

An occasional lightning flash provided some excitement, and nervousness, for the travellers. Being large and completely drenched was not a very safe thing to be around lightning.

And they hadn't even reached the far edge of this huge Vermin settlement yet! They wanted to go to one of those nice open places with the astonishingly-super-tiny light green little plants covering the brown soil.

According to the little Not-Vermin these were called "feeldz" and "medoz" and "pleynz."

Well, whatever the places were called, they sounded much nicer than the smelly smoky 'metal, concrete, asphalt' places all jam-packed full of Vermin dwellings. Such dwellings were sometimes fun to break, but they were in the way so much and were a bit painful to scrape against and it slowed the male down.

Also the tiny Not-Vermin tried to jump onto these structures to escape, which was dangerous for him ( _so tiny and fragile!_ ) and bad for the Kaiju. THEIR presence was still wonderfully faint, but little echoes of furious orders would surface occasionally.

The tension was not good for morale, and the two Kaiju were already injured and sore from the battle, and growing tired.

{ _Tired sore the annoying Death-Thing is heavy maybe we could simply remove the head and carry that it would be much easier,_ } the female huffed.

{ _True easier but uncertain probably not a good idea it might kill the Death-Thing._ }

The little human overheard and was confused, ' _'Kill'? If you meant 'shut off,' Striker already looks pretty broken, the Jaegers aren't alive and why would-_ '

{ _WHAAAAAT?_ } Both Kaiju were surprised, { _Yes they are._ }

' _...What._ '

{ _You silly tiny human,_ } they answered, { _Death-Things live(and die!) and think/speak in their own way how are you not knowing this (even after spending time with Us-two now) We will never understand how your species has survived so long without any connection/ thought-sharing it is so weird._ }

"What what wha- wa- wait," the human protested, "Back up a second! The _Jaegers_ are _alive?!_ "

The Kaiju could not understand spoken speech, but they understood what the little human was thinking. They responded to his inquiry near simultaneously with a sentiment which would, if translated into spoken english, bear a rather striking resemblance to, " _Duh._ "

 _'Ok, but, um, how would you know- how would you guys know? I mean are you sure? Yeah I mean they move and fight and stuff but that doesn't mean they're alive- (I'm not being insulting or patronizing!)- it's only 'cause they have pilots moving for them. So…_ '

Still being new to the experience of Drifting, the human had the tendency to think at the two Kaiju in words, in the format he would use if speaking aloud. This was, in fact, unnecessary, and actually clouded the meaning a little.

That was alright, the Kaiju got the gist of what he was saying about the Death-Things.

{ _No silly human they are alive (some~!)_ } the female smugly added that last part as the male bared his teeth in a dark grin. There were many Death-Things no longer living.

Newt made a slight face, but wondered why they'd thought of 'some' or 'a few' Jaegers, instead of 'one' or even possibly 'two;' Gipsy must've been the only one still functioning- and maybe Striker.

The male Kaiju gave an irritable snort, { _No We meant all four Death-Things who We-two fought this time all four still live (ugh snarl) We-two did not kill any of them We-two were careful humph._ }

Newton wrinkled his nose, _'You seem to seriously dislike Jaegers- I mean, WAY more that the flying one._ '

{ _YESSSSSSSS._ }

' _Ow. Why?_ '

{ _They kill Us,_ } the female answered quickly but grimly, as the male's thoughts darkened into looming, far away storm clouds.

Curiosity sparked from the inquisitive little human, and the gorilla-like Kaiju sent a mental glare his way. Newt backed off, hands lifted in surrender.

Then he had to grab hold of the Kaiju's side again to keep from losing his balance. The massive creature gave a short series of rumbling huffs- snickers or chuckles, the human knew.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up," he sighed, before glancing toward Striker, still held firmly between the flying Kaiju's talons. "Soooo… again, the Jaegers are alive?"

{ _Amusement yes funny nice human,_ } the flier answered.

"How? Are they, like, sentient? Like you guys?"

{ _Yeah._ }

{ _Yes but slightly different,_ } the male corrected.

"Awesome! That is SO cool! I- I mean we had no idea! Are you totally sure? How are they different? Is Striker aware and stuff, right now? Or is he sorta unconscious? Wait, is he a guy? I think they call Gypsy a girl. Do they have genders?"

The Kaiju laughed.

{ _Slow down funny silly human amusement affection,_ } the female chuckled, { _Yes all Death-Things who existed lived they were/are sentient they do have genders (based on their 'pilots' somewhat) never exactly bothered to ask always fighting._ }

"Oh, ok. So, what are they?"

{ _This nasty vengeful one is male the blue one with a new 'pilot' We just fought is female the bulky slightly kinder one is male the three-armed red one is female._ }

The little human blinked in surprise, "Crimson's a girl?"

{ _Yes if I remember correctly from short conversations during previous fights her brothers/'pilots' always wanted a sister._ }

"Ha! That's so cool! Wait. Wait a minute, you guys can TALK with Jaegers?!"

{ _Frequently during battle yes they think differently than us._ }

"Whooaaa... How?"

{ _Annoyance exasperation tired you want to listen in to annoying nasty one here who won't shut up?_ } the male asked grumpily.

"Striker?" Newt asked, blinking again, _'He's been talking this whole time?_ '

{ _Irritation weariness groaning YYEEEESSS dislike hiss._ }

{ _VERY rude irritating,_ } the female Kaiju agreed, shifting her hind limbs forward so the Jaeger tilted slowly back and forth in the air like a pendulum. { _Amusement snickering satisfaction he calls more insults and pointless threats is angry can do nothing to us smug ha ha!_ } She cackled.

Newt smiled uneasily; it was a bit unnerving, this reminder that the Kaiju weren't always quite as nice as they'd been acting.

{ _True,_ } the flier admitted easily, { _We dislike/hate Death-Things/'Jaegers' and 'pilots' (they killed Us) you wanted to listen in?_ }

' _Um, ok._ '

{ _Alright warning different here you go._ }

A series of images and sounds and sensations flickered through Newt's head like disjointed video clips. The shrill shriek of twisting metal, somehow angry-sounding. Searing heat, sharp like white-hot knives. Striker Eureka's fists pounding toward the 'camera' at high speed.

Newt jolted in surprise.

It was different from the Kaijus' way of communicating, which was mostly a flow of ideas, feelings, and intentions and so on. This was more like having a ton of emails rapidly appearing one right after another, with emotions attached, in his head.

{* _Chuck Hansen, teeth bared, eyes blazing- Fatally wounded Kaiju lying on the ground bleeding out, breath gurgling through bubbling blood- Metal shifting apart, rockets activated, the vibration of firing, smoke, the sound of impact and explosion- Jagged lightning cracking the night sky- Herc Hansen grimacing, fists and teeth clenched- Grabbing hold of the female Kaiju's wing and ripping it- Kaiju screams of pain- Standing paralyzed but suddenly surging to life and tearing at the male Kaiju- Bricks and glass shattering- Kaiju talons breaking- Typhoon's blades cutting and Cherno's fists pounding-_ *}-

"Wow ok ok ok, enough, stop! Please," Newt yelped, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head, hands over his ears.

The flashing impressions faded, one last flicker showing Striker whipping his head around, gold visor flashing in surprise. Then a giant exclamation point and metal hand reaching, before it vanished completely.

{ _Nah,_ } Newt heard the female Kaiju taunt Striker laughingly, { _you wanted to only be nasty and insult complain threaten us so no haha._ }

She gave a rough trill of barking laughter in response to whatever the Jaeger 'said.'

{ _Wordless shrieking._ } Ah.

The human put a hand to his head, the other used for balance, "Wow. So, that's how Jaegers communicate? Why was he surprised for that last part?"

{ _He was startled you could 'hear' him We haven't told him much his 'pilot'-vermin are in the dark don't know what's happening want explanations information are alone afraid want help from others,_ } the male answered, striding over a hill.

"Oh," Newt stated, ' _...Can I talk to them/to him again? Actually I don't even know all of what's going on, so..._ '

{ _No real plan yet,_ } the gorilla-like Kaiju explained, { _For now getting as far away from THEM as possible and hoping to avoid vermins' single-flying-explosive instant-death-things-_ } Oh. Nukes. He'd kind of forgotten about that. {- _And find a place to rest._ }

' _Ok. Could I… tell them- or is it just Striker?- that?_ '

{ _Shrugging sure no problem but We can only communicate to Death-Things not to Vermin/humans except for you (for now?)_ }

The male's thoughts shifted to hopeful planning, { _Maybe doing this 'Drift' thing with more humans would help the rest of Us be more safe from/uncontrolled by THEM interest perking up curiosity wondering...?_ }

"Um... I dunno," Newton admitted, surprised at the idea, "You guys seem pretty awesome, and, y'know, relatively nice. I mean..."

He switched to 'speaking' in thoughts. _'You've been nice to me and didn't kill the Jaegers, which is super-forgiving and big of you, so that's really amazing and cool, and you- you all- deserve a lot better that what those nasty Precursor guys are doing to you_.'

He thought more carefully, ' _I dunno, it'd probably be_ really _hard, but, I'll do what I can to help you guys get free..._ '

{ _You have a known concept/noise-word for this amazing strange unbelievable incredible new thing we have/are?_ } they asked, pleased.

{ _We-two are being away from THEM and not controlled or influenced or restrained or punished (at all!) so CONFUSING AMAZING new strange special it is hard to understand please explain it!_ }

"What..." Newton began, before his eyes widened.

 _{You humans have/are this strange thing all the time you know what it is yes_?}

' _Oh my word. They don't- They don't even know what..._ ' His eyes stung and he choked back sudden tears.

"Yeah…" he whispered at last, "Yeah, it's… It's called being free."


End file.
